2006 Monte Carlo Rally

The 2006 Monte Carlo Rally (formally the 74th Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo) was the first round of the 2006 World Rally Championship. The race was held over three days between 20 and 22 January 2006, and was won by Ford's Marcus Grönholm, his 19th win in the World Rally Championship.^[1]

2006 Monte Carlo Rally 74th Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo
Round 1 of the 2006 World Rally Championship Next event →
View of the casino - the official start place of the Monte Carlo Rally
Host country	Monaco
Rally base	Monte Carlo
Dates run	January 20, 2006 – January 22, 2006
Stages	18 (366.39 km; 227.66 miles)
Stage surface	Tarmac / Ice / Snow
Overall distance	1,336.13 km (830.23 miles)
Statistics
Crews	51 at start, 43 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Marcus Grönholm BP Ford World Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 06

Marcus Grönholm's car in the service park.

Report

The first event of the season saw many changes from the previous year. The new season saw just two full manufacturer teams compete (Ford and Subaru).^[2] Citroën supported a semi works effort through the Kronos team. Stobart increased their profile by creating a team using old Fords. OMV Peugeot Norway used the Peugeot 307 while Skoda maintained their presence through a team sponsored by Red Bull.

On the drivers front, Ford had a new lineup consisting of two time champion Marcus Grönholm and the promising young driver Mikko Hirvonen.^[3] Kronos used Citroëns twice world champion Sébastien Loeb alongside Xavier Pons.^[4] Subaru retained Petter Solberg with Stéphane Sarrazin^[5] and Chris Atkinson^[6] due to share the second seat depending on the surface. Stobart used a mixture of drivers alongside Matthew Wilson in his first full year. Manfred Stohl and Henning Solberg used the previously unloved Peugeot 307s. There were no places for Markko Märtin who fired an angry broadside before the Monte Carlo Rally at the direction the sport was taking.^[7] Toni Gardemeister lost his place at Ford along with Roman Kresta, both not doing enough to impress Malcolm Wilson during 2005. François Duval didn't find a seat after his erratic 2005 season, and there was still no place available for Colin McRae despite two promising performances for Skoda in 2005.

Results

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
WRC
1.	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	4:11:43.9	0.0	10
2.	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën Xsara WRC	4:12:45.7	1:01.8	8
3.	Toni Gardemeister	Jakke Honkanen	Peugeot 307 WRC	4:13:07.0	1:23.1	6
4.	Manfred Stohl	Ilka Minor	Peugeot 307 WRC	4:13:26.2	1:42.3	5
5.	Stéphane Sarrazin	Stéphane Prévot	Subaru Impreza WRC 2006	4:15:04.1	3:20.2	4
6.	Chris Atkinson	Glenn MacNeall	Subaru Impreza WRC 05	4:16:46.3	5:02.4	3
7.	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	4:18:03.4	6:19.5	2
8.	Dani Sordo	Marc Marti	Citroën Xsara WRC	4:18:59.1	7:15.2	1
PCWRC
1.(17.)	Fumio Nutahara	Daniel Barritt	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:37:59.1	0.0	10
2.(21.)	David Higgins	Ross Butler	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII	4:44:30.9	6:31.8	8
3.(29.)	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Chris Patterson	Subaru Impreza	4:55:13.2	17:14.1	6
4.(39.)	Stefano Marrini	Tiziana Sandroni	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII	5:08:59.1	31:00.0	5
5.(41.)	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	5:12:08.5	34:09.4	4

Special stages

All dates and times are CET (UTC+1).

Day	Stage	Time	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
1 (20 JAN)	SS1	08:33	St Sauveur Sur Tinee - Beuil 1	22.22 km	S. Loeb	15:14.0	87.6 km/h	S. Loeb
	SS2	09:31	Guillaumes - Valberg 1	13.60 km	M. Grönholm	9:37.2	84.8 km/h
	SS3	10:19	Pierlas - Ilonse 1	23.22 km	Cancelled
	SS4	14:25	St. Sauveur Sur Tinee - Beui 2	22.22 km	S. Loeb	14:43.9	90.5 km/h
	SS5	15:23	Guillaumes - Valberg 2	13.60 km	F. Duval	9:43.3	83.9 km/h
	SS6	16:11	Pierlas - Ilonse 2	23.22 km	M. Grönholm	18:47.6	74.1 km/h	M. Grönholm
2 (21 JAN)	SS7	07:53	Sigale - Bif. D10/D110	22.54 km	S. Loeb	16:50.4	80.3 km/h
	SS8	09:06	St. Antonin - Toudon 1	20.22 km	S. Loeb	14:41.2	82.6 km/h
	SS9	10:19	La Tour Sur Tinee - Utelle 1	18.73 km	S. Loeb	15:41.5	71.6 km/h
	SS10	14:30	St. Antonin - Toudon 2	20.22 km	S. Loeb	14:21.2	84.5 km/h
	SS11	15:43	La Tour Sur Tinee - Utelle 2	18.73 km	Cancelled
	SS12	16:38	La Bollene Vesubie - Sospel 1	31.25 km	S. Loeb	24:03.1	78.0 km/h
3 (22JAN)	SS13	07:55	Col de Braus - La Cabanette 1	12.60 km	S. Loeb	12:16.2	61.6 km/h
	SS14	08:23	Col St. Roch - Lantosque 1	14.45 km	T. Gardemeister	11:20.0	76.5 km/h
	SS15	08:56	La Bollene Vesubie - Sospel 2	31.25 km	S. Loeb	24:07.0	77.7 km/h
	SS16	11:44	Col de Braus - La Cabanette 2	12.60 km	S. Loeb	11:38.5	64.9 km/h
	SS17	12:12	Col St. Roch - Lantosque 2	14.45 km	M. Stohl	10:56.4	79.3 km/h
	SS18	12:45	La Bollene Vesubie - Sospel 3	31.25 km	M. Stohl	23:02.8	81.4 km/h

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver MON SWE MEX ESP FRA ARG ITA GRC GER FIN JPN CYP TUR AUS NZL GBR  Pts  1 Marcus Grönholm 1 10 2 Sébastien Loeb 2 8 3 Toni Gardemeister 3 6 4 Manfred Stohl 4 5 5 Stéphane Sarrazin 5 4 6 Chris Atkinson 6 3 7 Mikko Hirvonen 7 2 8 Dani Sordo 8 1 Pos Driver MON SWE MEX ESP FRA ARG ITA GRC GER FIN JPN CYP TUR AUS NZL GBR  Pts

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Rank	Manufacturer	Event																Total points
		MON	SWE	MEX	ESP	FRA	ARG	ITA	GRC	GER	FIN	JPN	CYP	TUR	AUS	NZL	GBR
1	BP Ford World Rally Team	14																14
2	Kronos Total Citroën World Rally Team	11																11
3	OMV-Peugeot Norway	6																6
4	Subaru World Rally Team	5																5
5	Red Bull Škoda Team	3																3
6	Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team	0																0